Users that demanded Windows, or returned netbooks because they didn't like Linux have no idea what they missed out on. If they could only get past that it's not Windows, and embrace the cost savings (no software costs, no internet security subscriptions...) as well as a much better security model and security through obscurity, they'd fall in love. Linux can easily do what you'd want to use a netbook for: surf the net and get your email and you wouldn't get bogged down 30% by the addition of internet security products in the process. It's their loss... Linux is obscurely used in everyday products that people use and they just don't know about it.

It was a bad move. It didn't look like his college class computer, which was Windows.

So he now has a laptop with Windows 2000 on it. This just about works Internet Explorer with his 3g device so he can listen to internet radio and read online news from his home country.

I have an Asus Eee with Linux, and I've regularly had to use the command line "apt get" and "sudo" stuff. Even though the Eee is meant for non-techies, it still needs a Linux geek command line at times.

Linux is not focused on market share, or making a simple interface for non-techies. That's fine, but Linux needs to be honest about this. It is not suitable for the average joe, who is not a techie.

Computers are the new cars, and currently we are living in the 1960s-1970s, when cars were unreliable and needed tinkering with to keep them going. Everyone was a bit of a mechanic so they could keep their car running on long journeys.

We are moving into the "car 1980s" where reliability, small size and cost were starting to be addressed.

Only when we get to "ca today" will we have truly reliable computers that just work the way we want them to.

"Car future" :
Satnav that can drive the car and take me to work whilst I am the passenger already logged at my "car desk" and working while stuck in traffic. And this same thing happens on the joourney home from work.

Cars will have more entertainment built in because no one will be interested in driving due to the fact that all cars will be computer controlled.

This future is not guarenteed, it may or may not happen ;-)

and you gonna play Crysis on netbook.
This is exactly the point.
no offense, but
You are fine example of moron.

Installing and configuring Ubuntu, does NOT require terminal.
It does NOT require any additional CD with driver in most cases (WiFi cards is the only exception and yet, does not require terminal).

I never ever had to mess with Windows Registry when doing a fresh install.No commmand prompt either. Oh and I can play Crysis too, lets not forget Fallout 3, or
Far Cry2, ......... and the list goes on.........................and on....
;-)

I'm not saying Windows isn't good for netbooks. It's good when you have it already set up (which is the case with netbooks with Windows preinstalled). It's not when you have to set it up yourself.

What does the analyst have to say about the price of Windows 7? That’s it’s going to be a substantial chunk of the price of a cheap netbook, unless you go for the crippled Starter Edition? Is he assuming that people will be happy with Starter, or that they won’t care about the price—in which case, why are they buying a netbook?

I'm not saying Linux isn't good for netbooks. It's good when you have it already set up (which is the case with netbooks with Linux preinstalled). It's not when you have to set it up yourself.

"Too bad that most people still associate Linux to the command line."

They do and it's OK. While many things can be done without using command line now, there are many others which you can't. I haven't even touched the Windows command line in this Windows installation. I use Ubuntu too and I have to keep the terminal open at all times. Sure, Ubuntu has a nice community to ask for help if you don't know much about Linux commands, but the help you'll get will definitely consist of a long list of commands to run. In Windows it's always "download this and double click it".

And they still list "terminal" under "accessories" in Ubuntu. That is OK in Windows, but funny on Linux.

I just cleaned up a co-worker's Dell Mini 10 netbook, bc it was so much loaded with Dell's crap, like an HP or Compaq machine a few years back. It was struggling to boot, load, run programs. Finally, after getting rid of the MicroCrapWare, it was fine. Just like my Asus Eee :)

They are the right ones to comment! Have you seen their Windows netbook? Not even their advertised instant restore feature works! Implement some quality control, you bastards!

And I want my netbook with Linux, please. No driver hassles like with Windows. Everything works out of the box. The interface nicely scales, thanks to OpenGL.

Linux can do every single thing netbooks are meant to do. Browse the internet, check emails, do some simple typing... And it IS touch-screen-capable. So why not?
I know, you'd say that "people are not used to it and they wouldn't know how to use it". Just take a look at Ubuntu Netbook Remix(UNR), in a few mins you'd already know all you need to use it, and that's no longer than people would take to get used to Win7.

Too bad that most people still associate Linux to the command line.

If you mean more like photoshop, yes
GIMPshop.com
Only interface changed

Photoshop on a netbook? Shurely the IPhone first!
Joking apart - I wonder if Gimps interface now makes sense!

This dipsh*t probably earn much more than he deserves. Netbooks are fancy because they are small, you can carry they effordlessly, no need for a bag ou backpack. I and the world plus dog agree, for about as long as ASUS unveiled the first netbook, that it needs 3G. You don't need some fancy analist to tell you that!!! Other funcitionallity as touchscreen are also desirable, who offers it first and cheap, will be in advantage, no doubt.
The darned windows thingie is relative. A lot of people doesn't need more than what is already available in a linux netbook in terms of software. They won't bother to use it. People trying to run photoshop in a netbook (namely this "brilliant" analist) may turn into windows.

"There is no reason why a netbook has to be a small system"

This quote seems to defy logic, given that anything with a screen much larger than 10-11" qualifies as a "notebook".

As for the notion that Windows7 is a "familiar solution", well, that can only be because the writer has never tried it. Moving from XP to Windows7 is way way more disruptive than moving from XP to Linux (at least user interfacewise). Can anyone really describe the Windows7 "Explorer" as a "familiar solution"?

When will the "pundits" get the message? Netbooks are all about form factor. Only a moron wants to run Photoshop on a 10" screen, that moron is not the netbook market. The Netbook market is EVERYONE who needs net access in their briefcase/backpuck/purse 24*7. The "standard" is currently 10" 1024*600 screen, with enough memory and power for 95% of all tasks performed on a notebook. I posit that this market is an order or two larger than the above mentioned moron market (pundits appear to be in the same group btw).

The INTEL money machine of selling specifications ridiculously over the requirements of Joe Average is about to come to a screeching halt.

I think some one trying to recycle news.
I do remember post few weeks ago from the same Lenovo analyst talking about "high returns of Linux powered netbooks".
We will see in near feature (6-12 month) who is right.
IMHO ARM+Linux will rule MID.
On the other hand, Intel (the creator of Atom processor) saying that future generations of x86 MID will be completely powered by Linux.
I tend to believe them and not some ANALyst from very M$ oriented company.

On the Desktop?!?!
I'd have to begrudgingly agree with that assessment. IMHO Linux only has One "Killer App" and that is Television.

Beit the aging Nokia Dbox2, or Dream Multimedias' Dreambox Series, or perhaps the ultimate Reelbox Avantgarde.

Anyone who ~knows~ about Satellite Television knows that Linux based Settop Boxes are the way to go!!

So it's only natural that I use it in my HTPC class Computer in my living room. Linux (sans the Driver support), does the things that Microsoft's MCE doesn't. And is unlikely in the future to do so either!

But then beit for whatever reasion known only to the fine Folks in Cupertino I can't run something as simple as iTunes on a *nux Box?

WHY?!?

WHAT I'd like to see happen is more Multi-Media support for Linux from iTunes to Blu-Ray. I can live w/o the "Games". But I feel that there needs to be more then just FireFox, Thunderbird and Open Office.

Sure that's good enough for a "Netbook" but on a Notebook / Desktop it's not...

I do not want to be forced into getting windows on my netbook. I want linux. I will not pay for windows just to have to replace it.

If Lenovo had an industry leading return rate on it's nettops which are more or less spec identical to everyone else's it is more likely to be attributed to misleading marketing than linux.

Give me a netbook loaded with Linux Mint please!!!!

as good as win7 looks to be, I am using Mint more and more.

http://www.linuxmint.com/

The CEO of Asus said that there was no difference in the return rates of the netbooks fitted with Linux and Windows.